NI introduces mmWave test solution to accelerate the race to 5G commercialisation

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National Instruments (NI) has announced the mmWave Vector Signal Transceiver (VST) to address the test challenges of 5G mmWave RFIC transceivers and power amplifiers.

mmWave VST combines an RF signal generator, an RF signal analyser and integrated switching with 1 GHz of instantaneous bandwidth at frequencies up to 44 GHz. In addition to existing PXI-based characterisation systems in the lab, this instrument natively integrates into the NI Semiconductor Test System (STS) for deployment in high-volume manufacturing applications.

5G mmWave STS configurations support up to 8 mmWave VST instruments, with integrated IF capabilities, and up to 72 mmWave ports in a tester configuration that is optimised for EVM performance. Choosing a tester built on the modular PXI platform helps engineers adopting STS to quickly integrate new measurement capabilities like 5G into their test cells more cost-effectively and with less risk of delaying time to market, adds NI.

NI has also announced its latest release of LabVIEW 2019 and LabVIEW NXG.

LabVIEW 2019 has been designed to increase developer productivity through improved visibility in the IDE, powerful enhancements in debugging, and new datatypes to the G-language. It also addresses a critical pain point for engineers: managing dependencies and versioning with fragmented, non-standardised methods, which perpetuate as challenges in code deployment.

With the new distribution option of package installers in LabVIEW 2019, users can now implement a standardised distribution method with inherent version management and automatic dependency management to confidently replicate and share system software.

The newest version of LabVIEW NXG is designed to simplify the most time-consuming tasks in automated test and automated measurement applications, from deploying and distributing code faster than before, importing and exporting MATLAB data (. mat) for improved interoperability with third-party software, and additional capabilities added to Web VIs to give users better interaction and control with their applications.

These enhancements have been added to help engineers meet challenging time-to-market requirements by reducing time-intensive set-up through rapid connectivity to instrumentation, removing integration bottlenecks that traditionally arise in bringing in 3rd party IP through native interoperability with other programming languages and toolkits, and increasing access to important data by lowering the barrier of entry to web technology.